From its strategic position, overlooking the key pass through the Carmel Mountains, it dominated the crossroads of ancient trade and military routes that linked Egypt with Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. Armies of all the great generals who campaigned in the Middle East tramped across the plain of Jezreel, from the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III to General Edmund Allenby, including Alexander the Great and Napoleon. As Thutmose III claimed in the 15th century BC, “Capturing Megiddo is as good as capturing 1000 cities”.